Lawn and garden tractors, riding lawn mowers, and the like are vehicles that carry a seated operator. These vehicles turn fairly sharply and frequently as they operate. For example, when mowing around trees or bushes, it is common for such vehicles to be almost constantly in some turn as the operator swings the vehicle around one tree or bush after another.
This type of vehicle has been equipped in the past with a system that automatically slows the vehicle during turns. One known system of this type uses a rotatable cam that is adjacent some portion of the accelerator linkage. When the operator initiates a turn by turning the steering wheel, the cam rotates to force the accelerator linkage back towards its neutral position. This causes the vehicle to slow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,310 illustrates such a slow in turn system.
While this system is effective in slowing a vehicle during a turn, it has its own problems. To slow the vehicle down, this system forces back the accelerator linkage, and hence the accelerator pedal, from the position set by the operator. This can be disconcerting and distracting to the operator of the vehicle who is not used to feeling the accelerator pedal come back during operation of the vehicle. The natural inclination of the operator is to push back against the accelerator pedal with more force, thereby potentially defeating the purpose of the slow in the turn system. At the very least, the back pressure felt by the operator against his or her foot during operation of the slow in turn system is an annoyance and distraction to the operator.